The Battle Over Gender

Insults, threats and abuse have been hurled between trans activists and radical feminists for the past few years. The general public knows little if anything about the raging war between them; not the reasons for the hostilities nor the extent of the damage. Neither side is innocent.

The battle is about an idea: Gender. What is it? Is it socially constructed? Is it an innate male or female self that exists separately from one’s biological sex? Most importantly, who will get to define it? Also, are trans* activists biological essentialists? Or is it the radical feminists who are the biological essentialists? What the hell is biological essentialism anyway? And finally, can we just agree that we all hate Richard Littlejohn and get on with getting on?

Soho Skeptics is going to attempt to find some common ground in a night of personal stories, discussion and comedy.

Adrian Dalton was born female, transitioned and is now male-bodied.  He has done a variety of work from performing as drag queen Lola Lypsinka,  to writing his novel Inside Lindsey’s Handbag, to life modelling, pole-dancing, transcription services and formatting reports for various companies.  He currently lives in Queensway with his cat HRF Elton.

Julie Bindel is a journalist, broadcaster, author and feminist campaigner. She writes for the Guardian, New Statesman, Standpoint Magazine, The Spectator and the Sunday Telegraph, and is managing editor of Gaze – A Modern Review. Julie writes about anything horrible that happens to women and children, but also about culture, music, food, film and sexual and gender identity. She has travelled to Nevada to spend a week in legal brothels; Florida to visit death row, the Middle East to visit Syrian refugee camps and many other countries all over the world to report on a range of issues. Julie’s book, ‘Straight Expectations’ will be published by Guardian Books in 2014.

Unique, striking, cutting…An evening with Bethany Black is a one way ticket to a world you never knew existed. There are many words used to describe Bethany Black, Goth, Lesbian, trans, butch, recovering addict, vegan, Comedian, northern, roller girl. She sometimes sounds like a one woman pigeon hole generator. She’s been variously described as “Dark tinged, but magical” by the Guardian and “The living embodiment of political correctness gone mad” by one of her friends.  The one thing that they all agree on is that she’s funny. She’s been a professional comedian for the last 6 years and has performed alongside some of the biggest acts in the world,  Her first Edinburgh show “Beth Becomes Her” was the story of her transition from being considered male to how she really is, female, and gained critical acclaim.  She currently gigs up and down the country telling incredibly personal stories to people of varying levels of sobriety.

Gia Milinovich, according to Wikipedia, “is an American film blogger and producer” (nope), “she presented TV programmes… dating back to 1995 (1992 actually), but now works largely behind the scenes” (nope). So there you go.